Rio is my savior

We made it to Rio. It is so nice to be in a city again. Modern airports, traffic lights, a plethora of restaurants to select from...it is wonderful. We had a connection in Sao Paolo...that city is enormous! It looks larger than any American city I´ve seen with buildings like any normal downtown, but stretching every which way for a long ways. The guide book says the population there is 18 million.

We got in last night and only walked around a bit but the beachfront is two blocks from our hostel and was alive with activity. I had the worst Capirinha of my life - though I´ve only had two I think - we ate and went to sleep.

Although I made it through a week and a half in the jungle and wetlands with no significant mosiquito bites, I was bitten four times last night in our room here which is ridiculous.

Laura, I got you a pretty cool gift today which I hope you will like!

If the haze clears, beach time today! It will be nice to finally relax.

Brazil makes a bad first impression

Peruvians didn´t exactly come across as warm and welcoming.

Bolivians were somewhat so after you started speaking to them.

But both countries welcomed us warmly at their borders. Not so in Brazil.

We arrived from Bolivia to Corrumba Brazil via a 14 hour train ride. This was the worst, most ridiculous train I have ever been on. It honestly felt like an amusement park ride. At one point I was certain the train was hurtling down stairs - we´d move forward and drop, move forward and drop, over and over again. They showed a movie - Deuce Bigelow, European Jigalow - but I couldn´t watch it because trying to focus on the screen during the drops made me nauseaus.

But we arrived at 8:30 AM as we were supposed to, got out, and progressed without incident through Bolivian customs. The officers there even told me they liked my name.

Upon stepping outside, we were told by some random guy that there was no one at the Brazilian customs office and they would just take us into the city for no charge, that we should not worry about it. We walked the 100 yards to the office and there was indeed no one there. It appears the Brazilian customs officers were on strike. And we learned these nice men were Pantanal tour operators - the place we were headed - so everything started to make sense.

We told the guy we would go with him as he represented a tour group we had read about. As we went to hop in his pick-up, two other men suddenly joined him, and I started wondering where I´d packed my pocket knife.

They told us they would take us to their office. We drove into and through the town however - the place you would expect an office to be. Instead, we stopped in front of a house and a residential street. I located my knife and moved it to my jacket pocket.

Inside they showed us dated, worn and tattered maps, pictures, and guide books. I used their restroom and observed more people sleeping upstairs. The driver stood outside by the car...just outside the locked gate. I´m generally uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations like these and couldn´t wait to leave.

After hearing their pitch, we went to the bus station on word that the Immigration officers might be working there. They weren´t. We were told the strike would end on Friday, two days later, while we were in the Pantanal wetlands. The owner of the tour company assured us that he knew someone in Campo Grande - our next stop after the tour - who could get us our stamp with no problem. Perfect.

Our last night of the tour our guide comes to tell us he spoke to the bossman Al and there was nothing he could do for us. Instead of proceeding on the Campo Grande as we had planned, we would have to return the two hours to Corrumba just to get our passports stamped.

The Immigration office is open from only 8 AM to 11 AM, and then again from 2 PM till 4:30 PM. These officers work for less than 6 hours a day, they look at papers and stamp said papers, and they were on stike for more money. Despite the fact that we all had our visas, we all had our exit stamps from Bolivia, we had gone to not one but two offices in the city, and we had documentation for where we were during the stike, we had to change our travel plans to accomodate their strike. But it got worse.

We had an our to kill between our bus arriving and the immigration office opening. Two of us went into town to get food and drinks, the other two stayed with out bags. We arrived back at 2:15, leaving us with :45 minutes - at a bus station in a little town keep in mind - to get through immigration before our bus was supposed to depart. We didn´t make it.

First, there is only one person processing people entering the country. There were at least three other people in the back office doing apparently nothing, and one woman who would work with people leaving the country for a few minutes, then take a break.

Rather than letting people line-up and processing them in order as they do everywhere else in the world I´ve been, they take your passport from you and into the back office, then call names out. While it isn´t random, it also isn´t in order.

Half the people who walked up to the window didn´t get their stamp for whatever reason. If anyone in Brazil took an operations class, they might consider adding a first step - apparently for Bolivians seeking entry - to look for the specific articles or information that many of them appeared to be missing. This could help speed the process for everyone.]

As the time slipped away, we indicated to the officer that our bus left at 3:00 and asked that they process our documents in time to allow us to make our bus. The first time he told us to just wait. The second time he ignored us. The third time - at two minutes to three - he said okay, we´d be next. He then called three more people before us. Finally, at ten after three, he processed us both in thirty seconds (everyone else took about five minutes I would say) and acted as though he had done us a favor even though we´d heard the announcement that the bus had departed several minutes previously.

Instead of leaving directly from the Pantanal to Campo Grande, we had to come back to Corrumba because of the strike. This cost us four hours. Instead of making our 3:00 bus, we are now on an 11:00, costing us another eight hours. The wonderful Brazilian Immigration Officers cost four of us a day of our vacation. They took money away from some hostal in Campo Grande, because we are now sleeping on the bus. I now feel about Brazil like I feel about possums or people with no awareness of others or Hunts ketchup. Brazil and their lazy-ass customs officers can go to hell. I hope that man enjoys his life, working 5.5 hours a day, looking at the same forms over and over, feeling all powerful because he can give a simple stamp to some people and not to others, while he lives in this drug-trafficking and animal poaching border town that no one cares about except to get to the Amazon basin. Oh, and the Portugese he speaks so proudly is an ugly language, almost on par with German.

I wish I weren´t so bitter, but I am.

A lot happens in two weeks

These are random thoughts, mainly as an excuse to get pictures up.

First, flying little prop planes into the Amazon isn´t so bad. But check out this "airport" and note the grass runway.

Everywhere is a jungle. Here I am with a toucan. You might think this was taken during our trek through the rainforest. But no, it is in our hostal in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The places has two resident toucans. This is more animals than we saw during our two days camping.

Internet is too slow to upload more and we have to check-out of our hostal now. Tonight we leave on a 14 hr train ride to the Pantanal in Brazil. Border officials are said to be corrupt and require a bribe to get your stamp. And the cheaper of the two trains is lovingly referred to as the "Death Train" because 10 years back it would regularly jump the tracks and people riding on top with contraband would fall off to their death. Luckily we got four of the last seats on the plush, first class train, so hopefully that ensure we don´t die.

Crocs are strange to Bolivians

My bright orange Crocs cause quite a stir wherever I go, but especially in Bolivia and especially, it seems, in Santa Cruz where we arrived today. Although this is a more metropolitan city than Rurrenabaque where we were previously (1.3 MM pop. vs. 10,000), everyone here stares and points at my feet. Apparently Crocs are big with Israeli backpackers and so is Rurrenabaque, so the folks in this small village have grown used to them. But Santa Cruz isn´t as popular of a tourist destination so the wonders of Crocs haven´t been discovered by these folks yet. I think I like this city though, so I might move here and set-up shop selling them. They were perfect for hiking through streams in the rain forest on the way to the three waterfalls we visited the other day so...

Bolivia is too high

We have been moving like crazy and I haven't had many chances to get on-line. I counted the other day, and we had taken 12 trips of one sort or another in 6 days! Three flights, two boat rides, two train rides, and five bus rides. I prefer the flights.

We are now in our third stop in Bolivia. I can't breathe anywhere here. First was Copacabana/ LakeTiticaca/Isla Del Sol which was beautiful. But the altitude here is so high - it is the highest lake in the world - that walking up ten steps leaves everyone gasping a bit. And walking 30+ minutes up to your hostel with a full pack on your back on rough rocks and stones is like toture! In addition, I have been introduced to altitude sickness. Beyond the heavy breathing, this includes irritability (though with me it is hard to tell whether this is from the altitude or just natural) and probably the most intense headaches I've had ever.

Despite this Isla Del Sol was definitely one of my favorite stops on the trip so far. If it weren't for the donkeys making their donkey noises and the children running around yapping, it would be nealy silent. All around is this huge beautiful lake, with little towns nestled in the hills and mountians rising up. It is a little bit like Lake Como or Cinque Terre, though poorer. But still beautiful. We all woke up at 6:30 the next morning to watch the sun come up over the largest of the mountains - very nice.

Next was La Paz where we were only for about 20 hours total. But we met up with a guy who is friends with another MBA grad and originally from just outside Ann Arbor and he showed us around. Very congested and polluted city, but not too bad. It seems like there is a more upscale and artsy area which we only spent a couple of hours in at night for dinner that might be pretty nice. But again, the altitude here was even higher than anywhere else we'd been and a challenge. Our hostel was pretty ridiculous - I took video of how we had to walk to get to our room, and if I could ever get to an internet cafe with USB ports, I could post it. Actually, this hostal we stayed at hadincredbily fast internet and all the hook-ups we needed, but some punk red-headed kid was hogging it from 8 AM till we checked-out at noon, no joke.

From La Paz we took a quick 45 minute flight and went from the highest airport in the world I believe, to only like 150 meters above sea level, and from reasonably cool temperature to like 98 percent humidity. Our current town of Rurrenabeque is the launch point for our Amazon tour. They have an airport with one landing strip that is grass and only 4 flights come in and out in a day. Needless to say, it is a pretty small and remote village. We'll be out sleeping in tents the next three nights, so while I am not looking forward to that, I am looking forward to the chance of seeing sloths and monkeys and jaguars and gators and exotic birds.

I guess that is all for now. I won't have internet access till the 20th or 21st, but hopefully I can provide a report on my jungle tour then!

Machu Picchu is a lot of work

Today we hiked Machu Picchu and Waynu Pichhu. We woke up at 5:30, took a bus up to the base of Machu Picchu, and entered the historic ruins. The fog was still quite dense, so we really could not see much at first, but within 30 or 45 minutes it had cleared mostly, and by that time we were at the top of the ruins.

Indiviually, not part of the ruins is that spectaular even though the guide books suggest this piece or that is a must-see. But in totality they are quite impressive. It is not clear exactly what this place was, but it is so high up in the mountain, in such good shape still, and so expansive that you wonder how the Peruvians were able to build something like this. But then you remember the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Egyptians all made some pretty impressive stuff and you realize maybe it is not that far-fetched. Still impressive though.

Probably more exciting was the true hike up Waynu Picchu (the mountain in the background of the above picture). I need to find out how high up it was, but we hiked for at least an hour up incredibly steep and rough rocks/steps covered in a thin coating of moss and mud. It was an intense and tiring climb, but the views from the top were quite impressive and offered a great vantage point for taking in all of Machu Picchu below (as seen in the picture below). After not making it to the top of a mountain we climbed the day before (when you see the pictures of the "staircases" as steep as ladders placed right at the base of a wall that stretched literally 100+ steps high you might understand why) this was a great feeling of accomplishment and a good way to burn some calories.

In an hour we board a train back to Cusco and then go directly to our 22-hour bus ride to Bolivia. Peru has been good to us, but we have heard from a number of people that Bolivia is one of their favorite countries in S.America. We will be in some even more remote places during these next few days, so posting will likely be more infrequent. We also continue to have incredibly slow internet (maybe because we are in the middle of the Andes, who knows) so I can not upload pictures (nor can I find the apostrophe on this keyboard if you have noticed) but I have a bunch and will upload as soon as I can.

Peru is a good place to sleep

It is pretty good.

But first...this train ride from Cusco to Machu Picchu is slow and winding bu beautiful. We are following a twisting river, passing through broad valleys with the imposing Andes jutting up - sometimes sharp and craggy, sometimes lush with life, and sometimes capped in snow and clouds.

We´ve passed rural villages with ragged farland and ragged livestock, a pig or two here, a cow or three there. Some of the villagers are dressed in t'shirts and typical pants, but others don the brightly colored skirts and wraps and scarves signaling they are traditional native Andeans. Children abound, often surprisingly on their own with no adult in sight.

On to the sleeping. I have to admit that, even though it is dau four, we haven´t really done much. Our first night in Lima we were all tied from a long day of traveling and slept. The next day in the morning we walked down to the beach in Miroflores outside of Lima where we were staying, went to a great lunch at a swanky restaurant on the ocean, napped, and then took a quick tour by car of Lima´s old city in between drinks at our friend Carlos´ house and dinner.

Because of our ridiculously little amount of sleep that night - an hour at the hostel before our flight, and another hour on the plane - we slept for another 2.5 hours upon arriving in Cusco. This was followed by the necessities of lunch, a trip to the train station to buy tickets, and a trip to the bus station to buy more tickets. After another nap, all we had time for was dinner and bed as we had to be up at 6 AM to catch our train to Machu Picchu (we ran into 3 other Ross grads when we got off the train - small world!)

This has meant surprisingly little actual sightseeing - Dan, you would be disappointed. I definitely would have liked to have seen 2 or 3 of the catherdrals and museums in Lima and Cusco, but I think I´m okay with how things have developed. Not necessarily being a fan of the style of art and architecture here, for me this trip is more about the land, the environment, and life in general. No church will ever make the kind of impression on me that the Basillicas in Rome and Florence did. But Peru offers a simpler, more rustic, harder'edged experience and a bit more adventure or challenge and this is probably the more important take-away for me. That being said, we´ve had two amazing and anything but simple, hard-edged meals already! Some things I can´t resist I guess!

P.S.: Please forgive my typos but this web connection is way too slow for me to spell check and I have to get to the thermal hot springs!

The Backpacker´s Life

As most of you know, I am not necessarily the backpacking type. So staying in hostals and other $10 a day accomodations is not something I have a lot of experience with. Aside from worrying about not getting what you reserved or paid for, I am not minding it too much. We are out all day anyway so...We´ll see how I feel after tonight though - no accomodations in Cusco have heat and the temp drops into the 30´s at night since we are so high up. Should be interesting.

Peru has been pretty nice so far. Our classmate tooks us around Lima so we had an expert guide and went to some pretty nice places. Despite being told not to have any seafood and especially not to have any ceviche in Peru, it was one of the first things we ate (sorry Mom!) But we went to this very upscale (white tablecloths, everyone wearing suits, right on the ocean) restaurant for lunch and kind of figured they would take the proper precautions there. Over 24 hrs later and everyone seems to be feeling fine.

Cusco is very rural-poor. Everyone is trying to sell us something, the roads are pretty substandard, and the vehicles are even worse. But the people who have interacted with are very nice, except for the punk-woman at the train station who couldn´t process our reservation even though I had a freakin´ print-out of it that I brought just in case. Or the hostal operator who didn´t put us in the hostal I had requested and she had confirmed but instead in her other location a few blocks further away. Sometimes I´m not sure whether it is a good thing or a bad thing that I don´t speak Spanish.

I´m tired - we slept for an hour last night, another hour on the plane, and then 2 or 3 more when we got to Cusco. That isn´t enough. I'll aim to make future posts more interesting.

Beunos dias!